AQW 8072/17-22

Mr Stewart Dickson
Alliance Party
East Antrim

Tabled Date: 02/10/2020
Answered On Date: 12/10/2020
Priority Written: No

Question:
To ask the Minister of Health for an update on plans for a Nightingale facility at Whiteabbey Hospital to provide additional Health Service capacity for COVID-19 care.

Answer:

The experience of the first surge in COVID-19 identified a role for additional step down capacity to support flow though hospital and ease pressure on the system; therefore, I have commissioned work to develop an additional Nightingale facility on the Whiteabbey Hospital site.

This regional, intermediate care facility at Whiteabbey hospital will provide 100 additional beds for patients who have recovered beyond the acute phase of infection, but who still require intense rehabilitation. Work is continuing at pace to deliver this additional facility and remains on track to be operational by December 2020.